Biomarkers for rheumatoid arthritis in textile workers and the role of sex hormones

Rheumatoid arthritis [RA] is a common systemic chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease of unknown origin. There was an evidence of increased rate of RA in textile workers, and was higher among women. Fifty two textile workers [have worked for more than two years] and sixty two control subjects of both sexes were included in the study. The studied biomarkers of RA were rheumatoid factor [RF], specific immunoglobulins [IgM-RF and IgA-RF], anti cyclic citrullinated peptide [anti-CCP], C- reactive protein [CRP] and antinuclear antibodies [ANA], in addition to measurement of the sex hormones [estradiol, testosterone, and prolactin] in the two groups. The most prominent symptom among the examined workers was painful big joints. The percent of textile workers with positive CRP was significantly higher compared to their controls, but there was no significant difference according to the total RF positive test. The levels of ANA, IgA RF and anti-CCP of the workers were significantly higher than their controls. There is no significant difference between the workers and their controls regarding sex hormones

BDN programmes and the effect of medical students' interventions to promote child health in Sudan

Basic development needs [BDN] is an approach to community development that aims at improving quality of life through the full involvement and self-management of communities, supported by intersectoral collaboration. The objective of this study was to assess the effects of BDN implementation in an area of Sudan on aspects of a programme implemented by students from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Gezira. The study revealed that the joint implementation of BDN programmes and students' interventions brought about marked improvement of family and community practices as well as greater reduction in the incidence of all assessed major childhood illnesses [diarrhoea, cough and fever] than when the students' programme was implemented alone. BDN implementation also facilitated the retrieval of good quality community-based data

Effect of insulin treatment on some metabolic changes on experimentally induced tumor in female mice

Insulin administration in TB-mice caused a very highly significant decrease in the values of plasma glucose, triacylglycerols, free fatty acids, total ketone bodies and urea concentrations. On the other hand, plasma albumin, total proteins and liver glycogen concentrations were markedly increased. Meanwhile, insulin administration in NTB-mice caused a significant decrease in the values of plasma glucose and free fatty acids concentrations. However, the mean values of plasma triacylglycerols and total ketone bodies levels showed a highly significant decrease after insulin administrations. On contrary, the value of plasma lactate, total proteins, albumin and liver glycogen concentrations were significantly increased. The results of this study indicated that, insulin treatment can reverse the experimental cancer cachexia, and it's anabolic therapy, has potential benefits in cancer treatment by shifting glucose metabolism toward the host and away from the tumor